(A very interesting debut article from Jon that brings back many memories of sporting stars from a never-to-return era when to take part was just as important as winning can you imagine anyone thinking in such a Corinthian way nowadays ? Howard Borrell)
At the time of writing the English cricket season has only recently ended. Cricket conjures up the best image of English summers: the village green, the traditional English pub and sunshine. Given the eye for a ball and general co-ordination requirements of football and cricket it's no surprise that some sportsmen are good at both disciplines. Locally Steve Blatherwick, Bryn Gunn, Tom Curtis, Bob Newton, Steve Kendal and Jamie Hewitt all played club cricket. Nationally it's well known that Gary Lineker, Steve Ogrizovich, and the Neville brothers were very good cricketers indeed. In fact lining up alongside Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, Phil Neville is the youngest ever player to have represented Lancashire's second team and was captain of the England U15's cricket team. However, at the age of 15 he had to choose whether to pursue a promising cricketing or football career and the rest is history.
These days the time demands of both sports, not to mention the cautious approach to injury risk prevent anyone from playing both sports professionally at the same time. Yet until relatively recently there were a few remarkable men who did just this.
Our own former goalkeeper and now Alfreton Town assistant manager Chris Marples ( pictured left) is known in local cricket as a formidable hard hitting batsman. In 1985 and 1986 he combined playing for the Spireites in the winter with putting his glove work to good effect in the summer as Derbyshire's wicket keeper, standing well back to the likes of Michael Holding and Devon Malcolm. However, Chris is not the only Spireite to have played for Derbyshire. Way back in 1929 loyal Scottish Spireite defender Horace Wass, who made 447 appearances for us from 1923 to 1936, made his one and only appearance for Derbyshire against Glamorgan in the County Championship. He also represented Scotland on 8 occasions, including against Australia and South Africa (twice) but these games did not have first class status.
The last man to play league football and first class cricket concurrently to my knowledge is Scotland's Andy Goram, who like Chris Marples also had the goalkeeper/wicket keeper combination. Andy represented his Country in both sports and although Scotland is not perhaps well known for cricketing excellence he played for them in the Nat West Trophy and at the 1991 cricket World Cup, thereby qualifying him as a first class cricketer. When Rangers called time on his cricketing career by inserting a "no cricket" clause in his contract it marked the end of an era. I believe that never again will we see men play both sports at the highest level. Another noteworthy fact about Andy Goram is that he had a unique footballing chant created especially for him by the affectionate and sensitive Rangers fans. After press reports that he was suffering from mild schizophrenia they sang "Two Andy Gorams, there's only two Andy Gorams!". Maybe that's why he excelled at both sports?
Another rare man who has proudly represented his Country at both sports, is none other than the great Sir Vivian Richards. One of the hardest hitting batsmen of all time Sir Viv is a legend in the cricketing world. He played at a time when his West Indies team dominated world cricket and their fast bowlers put the fear of god into many opposition batsmen. If they thought that fielding would give some respite they could think again when Viv Richards came to the crease. Known as the "Master Blaster" his aggressive batting style destroyed some of the best bowlers in the world. For the record he scored 112 first class hundreds and in 2002 was voted by Wisden readers as the greatest one day international batsman of all time. Of course he is less well known for his footballing exploits but he did play for his beloved Island of Antigua (& Barbuda) in the qualifying rounds of the 1974 world cup. Given his batting style it is perhaps somewhat of a surprise that in football he was a robust defender.
At the time when Chris Marples played for Derbyshire and Chesterfield Spireites fans may well recall seeing another football/cricketer appearing at Saltergate. Batsman Phil Neale captained Worcestershire very successfully from 1982, leading them to the County Championship in 1988 and 1989. Not to be confused with the Phil Neal who played for Liverpool and England this one had a slightly less distinguished football career at Lincoln City and Scunthorpe United. Never the less to combine a football and very successful cricketing career over a number of years is a remarkable achievement.
Phil became good friends and team mates with one of England's greatest all round cricketers during his Scunthorpe United days. A promising young footballer with Crystal Palace Ian Botham gave up the game to concentrate on cricket in 1971. However, after establishing himself as a world famous all rounder he trained with Scunthorpe out of season from 1979 to 1984 (when not on tour), initially to get fit after injury. Perhaps better suited to the role of no nonsense defender Beefy made his league debut as a striker against Bournemouth in 1980 during an injury crisis. He went on to appear a further 10 times before playing non-league football for Yeovil. Of course like his great friend and Somerset colleague Viv Richards, in the cricketing world Beefy is a living legend. Despite being dogged by back injury he took 373 test wickets for England (a world record at the time) and scored over 5,000 test runs. After his fall out with the Somerset management over their treatment of Viv Richards and Joel Garner he teamed up with Phil Neale at Worcestershire and was a key player in their two County Championship seasons.
Chris Balderstone in action for Carisle United
Another England test cricketer and professional footballer with Carlisle, Huddersfield, Doncaster Rovers and Queen of the South is Chris Balderstone. Amazingly, on Monday 15th September 1975 Chris played cricket for Leicestershire against Derbyshire at Queens Park (Chesterfield) from 11-30 am to 6-30 pm, ending the day on 51 not out. He then drove immediately and presumably quickly to play for Doncaster Rovers at Belle Vue from 7-30 pm to 9-15 pm. Not content with this he returned to the crease the following morning to complete his century before being run out on 116. His bowling (3 wickets for 28 runs) then helped to wrap up the match and secure the County Championship. Sadly, after becoming a respected international cricket umpire Chris died prematurely of cancer in March 2000, aged 59.
Going back many years I've found 13 quite remarkable men who have been honoured to represent England at both football and cricket, all have now passed away, the last being Arthur Milton who died earlier this year. There are also several first class cricketers and professional footballers who have played for England in one discipline including 1966 World Cup winning hatrick hero Geoff Hurst who had a single game for Essex in 1962.
I would like to end this article with the stories of two quite remarkable men, the Compton brothers. Leslie Compton's sporting career included playing for Middlesex between 1938 and 1956 as wicketkeeper, taking 468 catches and claiming 131 stumping victims. His footballing career at Arsenal began as a successful centre-forward, once scoring 10 goals in a game against Clapham Orient! He gradually moved via full-back to centre-half, a position he commanded so well that he earned the nickname of "Bighead" and two England caps in 1950 at the age of 38. He is still England's oldest debutant. Playing alongside his brother they were members of Arsenal's 1947/8 League Championship side and triumphant 1950 FA Cup winning team (2-0 v Liverpool). They are the only men to have won the County Championship in the summer and the Football League Championship the following winter (1947/8).
Denis Compton (pictured right) lined up alongside Leslie on many occasions for Arsenal and Middlesex but his cricketing career in particular far surpassed his older brother. One of the finest batsmen ever he scored 38,942 first class runs and accumulated 123 centuries, 11 more than Viv Richards! An all rounder he also took 622 first class wickets, held 415 catches and was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1939. He also had a highly successful footballing career, playing in 185 Arsenal games on the left wing and scoring 90 goals in the process. One of the amazing men to have represented his Country in both sports he played football for England on 14 occasions. Unfortunately, although a successful day, the 1950 FA Cup final signalled the end of his footballing career due to a serious knee injury. Denis Compton's sporting fame was unparalleled in his time, he was Beckham and Pietersen rolled into one. He was the first professional sportsman to have a manager (aka agent) and consequently soon became known as the "Brycreem Boy", appearing on posters and advertisements everywhere. His dodgy knee became as famous as his Brylcreem but he continued to play cricket until his final first class appearance for the MCC in 1964 aged 46, this despite having his kneecap removed in 1955. Unusually, the kneecap in question now belongs to the MCC and is stored in the Lords archive. In 1939 at the age of 21 arguably his finest sporting years were cruelly taken from him with the outbreak of war but for me his achievements are still so great that he can be rightly described as our greatest all round sportsman of all time.
By Jon Grant
